Everyone claims childbirth is EXTREMELY painful?

Question

and I'm sure that's true. But people also say that after holding the baby in your arms, it's all worth it. I'm not scared to have kids and I definitely want to have a family in the future, but what should I expect of the pain?

Answer 1

I had a c-section with both of mine and that hurt enough. But, after I held my baby boy, I forgot about the pain. My sister-in-law, on the other hand, had my nephew naturally. SHe hurt and swears up and down that she is not having another baby. My mother-in-law had 3 boys naturally, 2 without painkillers. It all depends on your pain tolerance and wether you really want a baby bad enough to go through all the pain. Every woman is different. And of course it hurts...you are pushing a human being out of your body.

Answer 2

I have 3, all naturally, and have had different expereinces. My first was very painful, he was posterior and my water broke early, which keeps the cushion so it is more painful. But the next 2 were great, hardly any pain, and it was very short. Every woman is different and there is no judge or prediction. As far as being in shape it has nothing to do with the pain....many women in excellent shape have horrrific labor, and many woman who never work out have quick easy and almost pain free. Please don't listen to that! Alhtough it can help your endurance, as well as getting back in shape and recovery after the baby comes.
It did feel like cramps, on my first, 100 times mulitiplied. I hope you have a great experience, but if not you really will forget! Why else do we do it over and over again.

Answer 3

Well, imagine having the most severe menstural cramps over and over. I think the epidurals that I received were actually more painful......but that was just me, I have a slight curvature of the spine so it was hard for them to hit the epidural space. Don't completely count on the epidurals to do the greatest job in the world either......with my 1st child it was great.......with my 2nd, well now that's a different story, It worked for a while but about 30 minutes before time to push, it completely dissapeared. So I felt every last pain with my 10lb 5 oz 23 in long child!!!! With my last child, I had the epidural & it started to do the same as the last time. But they gave me a booster before time to push and everything was smooth sailing from there on out. It's all a matter of personal choice for the woman. Hope that this helps.

Answer 4

It's painful. I went to 7 cm before getting drugs b 4 a c-section. I know so many people who swore they wanted natural but when the pain was unbearable they were begging for drugs. But once you hold that baby, you will forget it all! Well, until you have to push out the afterbirth. Again, from what I've heard. And why go through the pain when there is modern medicine to make it better.

Answer 5

I had 2 natural births. It's hard to describe the pain. It feels like menstrual cramps, same spots, but way way worse than a menstual cramp. It's like a sharp pain. The pain is all you can think about and during it you feel like you want to panic and give up because you just can't take it. When you are ready to push, that's the worst pain because of the pressure BUT pushing helps lessen the pain, if that makes sence. As soon as the baby's out, no more pain.

Answer 6

The pain is different for each women because we all have different pain tolerance. For myself I know I was really uncomfortable, but I don’t remember the pain so much. Once I had my son in my arms and saw how beautiful he was it all just left me. I did natural childbirth and delivered a 10 lbs 11 oz …24 in long baby boy.

Answer 7

The best advice I was given was during the pregnancy imagine the worst pain you could ever imagine. So you are preparing yourself, and you will find it is not as bad as you imagine. I have had two pregnancies and used the same imagery, works every time. My second labour was drug free, if that helps.

Instead of talking to people, who scared me, I read books on natural childbirth, and I found these to be best because it explains what your body and mind go through in these situations.

Answer 8

Every pregnancy and birth is different. Birth is very painful, and depending on how in shape the woman is, it can be shorter or longer. Having an epidural gets rid of most of the pain, but it tends to make labour longer and might cause complications. If you go into it relaxed, chances are the birth will be a bit easier to handle.

Answer 9

Yes- Labor is the worst pain that I have EVER had!!! I had an epidural and it failed- I felt every last pain. I could have even got up and walked!! I ended up with an emergency c-section and was put to sleep because the epi failed.

People say that when you see your baby that you 'forget' the pain. No- you don't. I think it's a figure of speech and shouldn't be taken literally.

But in the big scheme of things the pain is short lived and you end up with a baby that will be a blessing to you for the rest of your life.

Answer 10

i was 17 when i had my first child and i went all natural. to tell you the truth the tattoo on my lower back hurt worse then my labor and delivery did. but of course everybody is different. i have a decent tolerance for pain so it didn't hurt me so much. the labor pains were uncomfortable, but i did have my daughter in five hours from the time i went into labor. now i'm 20 and pregnant again and i'm really ready for it b/c i've already been through it once. it doesn't seem as scary as it does when you're 17.